In Your Residence Hall

The sustainable habits you make when you move into your first dorm will stick with you for life. Make sustainability part of your lifestyle from day one by reducing your footprint and participating in sustainability programs in your residence hall. For more information about residence life at GW, visit GW Housing.

With Your Roommates

Coordinate before move-in to avoid purchasing duplicate items

Compost your food waste

Keep trash and recycling separate

With Your Hall

Make it a habit to turn off lights in common areas

Hold a clothing swap to refresh your closet or get a new Halloween costume

Participate in Eco Challenge

Eco Reps

Eco Reps are GW’s student leaders for campus development and help facilitate some of GW’s most important sustainability initiatives. Some examples of projects Eco Reps play a key role in are the Eco Challenge, Colonial Composting, and our annual Earth Hour Celebration. Eco Reps are students who are passionate about sustainability and are presented with the opportunity to collaborate with other like minded individuals. What makes an Eco Rep distinct from any other sustainability student leaders on campus is their direct connection with the administration. To learn more and join Eco Reps, email [email protected] or follow Campaign GW on Facebook.

Eco Challenge

Eco Challenge is a competition between the GW residence halls in pursuit of the title of most sustainable building on campus and some fabulous prizes. Students living in residence halls, with the help of Eco-Reps, conserve their water and energy and improve their recycling. Points are tallied at the end of the semester and whichever residence hall has made the biggest effort wins a prize. Want puppies to come to your residence hall while you study? Or new water bottle filling stations? Help your residence hall win the Eco Challenge!

Green Move Out

Green Move-Out, a major university initiative, makes the residence hall move-out process more environmentally- and community-friendly through a multifaceted donation drive. During move-out, students drop items such as bedding and linens, non-perishable food items, clothing, and books in boxes in residence halls labeled with a Green Move-Out sticker. These items are then bagged and donated to local charity partners.

This initiative is only made possible through the support of an unprecedented partnership of students, staff, and faculty volunteers, and sponsors.

Green Affinity Housing in District House

Affinity Housing presents the opportunity for GW registered student organizations, athletic groups, and academic organizations to create their own living community around their particular needs and interests.

The Sustainability Affinity exists as a space where students share in living environmentally just and sustainable lifestyles. This learning takes places in many ways-- from cooking with local food in the affinity's (large!) communal kitchen to attending actions together.

The deadline for applications to live in the Green Affinity are due February 13th.

Sustainability Living and Learning Community on Mount Vernon Campus

The Mount Vernon Campus is home to a growing number of innovative living and learning communities for students who want to combine a small-college experience with the resources and opportunities available at a major university. Programs at Mount Vernon provide guided academic opportunities for students who want to collaborate with other students, faculty, and post-doctoral fellows on a variety of exciting cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary themes and projects, and who eventually want to chart their own path with individual research projects and other challenges. Mount Vernon also provides special programs for residents, from cultural events to special excursions around the greater Washington metro area.

The Sustainability living and learning community on Mount Vernon campus brings together first-year students and faculty who are passionate about conserving and wisely utilizing the earth’s resources.

Students will live together in a close-knit community of peers who are similarly passionate about protecting ecological health—now and in the future. Together, they will explore major issues in sustainability in a special seminar in the fall semester. In spring, students may choose to pursue independent, faculty-directed research on a sustainability-related topic.

Throughout the year, students in the Sustainability living and learning community will have ample opportunity to draw upon the wide array of resources and opportunities around GW and in the greater Washington, DC region. This living and learning community is open to students of all majors and schools.